Letters | Yes on 2H

0

Correction: In our Oct. 6 issue, in our coverage of the Louisville City Council Ward II race, we incorrectly stated that Dean Smith “says developers should be able to apply for a demolition permit without a development proposal.” Smith actually says developers shouldn’t be able to apply for a demolition permit without a development proposal.

Yes on 2H

On Nov. 1, the voices of the people of the City of Boulder will be heard. By joining a powerful national campaign to reclaim true democracy, and saying “yes” to Resolution 2H, we are telling our elected officials that we want action now on a Constitutional amendment that would abolish corporate personhood and the equating of money with free speech.

The word “person” appears 49 times in the Constitution and Amendments; the word “corporation” does not appear at all. Real, live, breathing persons have constitutional rights, corporations have none. Despite the original intent of the framers of the Constitution, court rulings over the past 125 years have allowed corporations to overwhelm citizen influence in our elections. It’s time to change; it’s time to turn things around! Stand up for government of the people, by the people and for the people!

Vote “yes” on Resolution 2H!

Dick Mueser/Boulder

Gessler is hurting Colorado

Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler has deliberately and maliciously launched a full-scale assault on Colorado’s registered voters. When we signed up for “permanent mail-in ballots” in 2008, we naturally thought this meant receiving our ballots by election time through U.S. mail. Mr. Gessler’s unilateral decision to only mail ballots to those who voted in 2010 is ridiculous. It’s neither practical nor feasible to expect voters to check their voting status, according to Mr. Gessler’s definition of an “active” voter from an “inactive” voter. This intentional voter suppression makes no sense. The good people of Colorado deserve better.

Although I’ve lived in Colorado since 1984, I am originally from Chicago. Illinois political manipulation and resulting national shame is well known. Having Mr. Gessler oversee Colorado elections is very concerning, as is the negative impact on our national reputation.

Shari Malloy/Longmont

Clean energy rocks

America has an unprecedented chance to address both rising unemployment and rising temperatures by engaging whole-heartedly in the development and proliferation of solar energy — particularly here in Colorado, where we have so many days of sun every year. To ignore the reality of global warming is criminal, as is disregarding the plight of so many Americans willing to work. Let us wake up and lead the country in addressing these two problems effectively.

Eve Ilsen/Boulder

Clean energy is the only hope for the survival of humanity.

Robert-David McEldowney/Niwot

America needs new good-paying jobs that will support economic growth and families across our country. Our state has long been a producer of energy and jobs for our country, and now we need to work to expand on that history and move forward into a low-carbon future.

Clean energy is one of the best ways to create the jobs we need and this growth industry for our country.

Since the solar company Solyndra failed, many politicians and pundits have been using this failure as an excuse to attack solar rather then to tell Americans that we need to speed up development and funding in this sector, as it is a key global industry and a great way to get Americans working again.

Fossil fuels do not need such support, as they are mature industries in a global marketplace. The attacks on solar energy are political and distract from the reality that we desperately need to move forward toward a clean energy future.

Other countries around the world are supporting this sector and we need to do the same!

Fred Wohl/Louisville

Don’t buy marijuana lie

So-called medical marijuana was a scam from inception. The primary goal of drug legalization advocates has always been to get to full marijuana legalization. Colorado is now being targeted by legalizers in an attempt to scam us into legalizing marijuana outright.

On Sept. 28, the United States Department of Justice sent a letter warning pot dispensaries in California that they are in direct violation of federal law, and they must close their doors within 45 days.

Title 21, United States code, Section 856(a) provides: It shall be unlawful to knowingly and intentionally rent, lease, or make available for use, with or without compensation, a building, room, or enclosure for the purpose of unlawfully, storing, distributing or using a controlled substance.

Marijuana is a Schedule 1 illegal drug. Make no mistake, the goal behind legalizing marijuana is not about one’s right to smoke pot. In fact, recreational users are being used by legalization advocates to push their true agenda, which is complete control over the illicit drug market.

If we legalize marijuana in 2012, we will have opened Pandora’s box. Marijuana legalization will set precedent for the legalization of all illicit drugs, including heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine. Legalizers, primarily funded by out-of-state billionaires George Soros and Peter Lewis, will finance unscrupulous attorneys who will argue that you cannot legalize one illicit drug and not the other. Allow me to make this very clear, for every tax dollar legalizers claim marijuana legalization will create, it will cost tax payers over $8 to clean up the mess caused by the 40 percent increase in the number of recreational users, along with the cost of addiction and increased crime.

Here’s something to consider about legalizers. They lie. They have outright lied to me and to you. To prove it, let me ask you a few questions: How many other approved medicines are smoked? How many come in unmeasured doses? How many have unknown strengths? How many are taken as often as you “think” needed? How many are taken in crude form, such as bread mold or (aspirin) tree bark? How many are voted on by the general public? How many circumvent the safety of the FDA? How many have no warnings on harm? How many are “recommended” by unsavory doctors, yet not prescribed (avoids liability by recommending)? How many people are allowed to grow or produce their own medicine? How many medicines allow for some unnamed doper dude to hold their stash? The answer to these questions are obvious: Zero.

In my opinion, medical marijuana is the biggest scam ever to be perpetrated against we the people.

Several years ago, San Diego County in California conducted a study on who was using medical marijuana for any type of serious illness.

The results were shocking. Only 2 percent were using it for something serious, 98 percent were using it for undocumented and undiagnosable pain, including menstrual cramps and pain caused by wearing new shoes. You know how the saying goes: fool us once, shame on them, fool us twice, shame on us! Don’t buy the marijuana lie.

%u2028Linda Taylor/Fountain

Reject proposal for public wi-fi in Longmont

For those who may have forgotten, the ill-advised specter of a City of Longmont-operated wi-fi system first arose 15 years ago. The 18-mile fiber system never made it out of the starting blocks, however, as first one then another private company failed in their attempts to run the network before succumbing to bankruptcy. A third provider arguably “won” a bid to operate the system in 2009 before wise voters finally pulled the plug the same year.

Based on this narrative, one would think the entire matter had been settled. Kaput, fold your tents, cut your losses and move on — settled.

Yet here comes the city government once again with yet another attempt to reanimate the corpse, bringing to mind the definition of insanity as repeating the same act over and over with the anticipation of different results — except there’s plenty of empirical evidence from similar publicly funded wi-fi boondoggles throughout the nation going bust to accompany Longmont’s long, fumbling history.

To be fair, not all muni wi-fi systems fast-tracked it to oblivion. For example, Chattanooga, Tenn., launched what’s billed as the nation’s fastest fiber network just this year — but the city’s dismal 1G speed hardly recommends it as an alternative to the 3G and 4G wireless broadband services provided by private competitors.

Publicly funded wi-fi — or, for that matter, any other service in which government entities directly compete against the private sector — is both unnecessary and unfair. Private companies shoulder the burden of investments and innovations, and one misstep could induce customers to jump to a competitor’s client list or even put the company out of business entirely.

A faux pas in a heavily government-subsidized operation, by contrast, seldom elicits more than an “oops” from unaccountable public bureaucrats administering the programs with taxpayer dollars. If you have no skin in the game, there’s no incentive to strive for customer satisfaction.

If the city government is allowed to proceed with this unnecessary system, not only will Longmont citizens suffer, but so will the companies with which the government wi-fi system will unfairly compete. As written, the ballot issue would enable the city to offer wi-fi services directly or lease fiber to private providers who would be granted access to a network built with taxpayer dollars. Since Longmont already regulates existing privately operated providers, this would render the city both regulator and competitor.

In addition, the ballot issue appears to have no provision prohibiting the city from cross-subsidizing its wi-fi service with the Longmont public power utility, a potentially lucrative break not enjoyed (nor should it be) by the private sector. Moreover, the city government hasn’t divulged how it will fund, maintain, or operate the service if the ballot measure passes, apparently adopting the “Nancy Pelosi defense” by telling voters they need to pass the measure to find out what’s in it.

Finally, the city hasn’t handed in its homework by conducting an assessment of whether Longmont even needs any services not already delivered by other providers. Instead of bolstering their cause by conducting a study quantifying Longmont’s current and future needs or whether gaps in service exist, the government simply seems hell-bent on ramrodding into practice a service that is redundant, unnecessary, and a proven loser in the past in Longmont and nearly everywhere else it’s been implemented.

Bruce Edward Walker/via Internet

Editor’s note: Walker is managing editor of InfoTech & Telecom News for The Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based think tank promoting public policy based on individual liberty, limited government and free markets.

Boulder Weekly welcomes your e-mail correspondence. Letters must not exceed 400 words and should include your name, address and telephone number for verification. Addresses will not be published. We do not publish anonymous letters or those signed with pseudonyms. Letters become the property of Boulder Weekly and will be published on our website. Send  letters to: letters@boulderweekly.com. Look for Boulder Weekly on the World Wide Web at: www.boulderweekly. com.